Grill Moving Mechanism for Oven

ABSTRACT

A grill moving mechanism for an oven is provided. The grill moving mechanism is disposed on an inner side of the oven and has a rear end provided with a push rod. The push rod has an active portion configured for driving a grill and connected with at least one resilient clamp. The grill, when put into the oven, can be securely clamped by one of the at least one clamp such that, once the door is pulled outward or shut, the grill is moved outward or inward synchronously with the door in a linked manner. The grill moving mechanism thus has a significant positioning effect on the grill.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention provides a grill moving mechanism for an oven. The grill moving mechanism is disposed on an inner side of the oven and has a rear end provided with a push rod. The push rod has an active portion configured for driving a grill and connected with at least one resilient clamp. The grill, when put into the oven, can be securely clamped by one of the at least one clamp such that, once the door is pulled outward or shut, the grill is moved outward or inward synchronously with the door in a linked manner. The grill moving mechanism therefore has a significant positioning effect on the grill.

2. Description of Related Art

Ovens developed by the industrial sector for grilling various foods come in a wide variety of forms. Basically, a conventional oven comprises: an inner casing provided at upper and lower ends thereof with pipe radiators, respectively; an outer casing enclosing and spaced apart from the inner casing; a back panel; and a door pivotally coupled to the front opening of the inner casing and adapted to open in a predetermined direction. A plurality of guiding grooves are provided on each of the left and right sides of the inner casing, spaced apart from each other, and of predetermined heights. A grill can be inserted into and along the guiding grooves and then be pushed inward or pulled outward smoothly. To grill food with the oven, a user puts the food to be grilled on the grill, pushes the grill into the oven, and shuts the door, allowing the food inside the oven to be evenly grilled at a preset temperature by the pipe radiators in operation.

However, the conventional oven does not manifest ease of use, because the operation of the conventional oven entails opening the door, pulling the grill out of the oven, putting the food to be grilled on the grill, pushing the grill into the oven, and shutting the door. It is inconvenient for users to pull/push the grill and open/shut the door.

In view of this, the inventor of the present invention developed a grill moving mechanism for an oven by which a grill can be moved synchronously with a door to facilitate pushing and pulling the grill, and for which a patent application was filed by the inventor, with application Ser. No. 13/343,109. It is also this '109 patent application that the present invention claims priority of. The '109 patent application discloses a grill moving mechanism disposed at an external side of the inner casing of an oven. The grill moving mechanism comprises a link, a controlling shaft, and a push rod. A groove is provided at a rear portion of one side of the inner casing. The controlling shaft is pivotally connected to a rear end of the link, penetrates the groove, and is fixed to a lower end of the push rod. A front end of the link is penetrated by a pin and coupled to a rear end of a curved bar, such that the link and the curved bar are pivotally connected. A front end of the curved bar is pivotally coupled to a support provided at a predetermined position on a door. To use the grill moving mechanism disposed at one side of the inner casing of the oven, a grill is pushed into and along two guiding grooves in the oven, and the rear end of the grill is inserted into a predetermined space formed on the push rod. Thus, when the door of the oven is pulled outward, operation of the curved bar and the link enables the grill to move outward synchronously with the door; or when the door is shut, the grill is pushed inward by means of the grill moving mechanism, thereby allowing food to be put into or taken from the oven conveniently.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is intended to make further improvement on certain components of the grill moving mechanism disclosed in the afore-cited patent application. It is desirable that a push rod is provided at a rear end of the grill moving mechanism, wherein the push rod has an active portion configured for driving a grill and connected with at least one resilient clamp. The at least one clamp can securely clamp a grill put into an oven such that, when a door is pulled open or shut, the grill is move outward or inward synchronously with the door in a linked manner. As such, the grill moving mechanism has a significant positioning effect on the grill.

It is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a grill moving mechanism for an oven, wherein the grill moving mechanism is disposed at an external side of an inner casing of an oven and comprises a link, a controlling shaft, and a push rod. A groove is provided at a rear portion of one side of the inner casing. The controlling shaft is pivotally connected to a rear end of the link, penetrates the groove, and is fixed to a lower end of the push rod. A front end of the link is penetrated by a pin and coupled to a rear end of a curved bar, such that the link and the curved bar are pivotally connected. A front end of the curved bar is pivotally coupled to a support provided at a predetermined position on a door.

The present invention is characterized by the following: The push rod, to which the controlling shaft at the rear end of the link is fixed, has an active portion connected with at least one resilient clamp. The at least one clamp can securely clamp the grill put into the oven such that, when the door is pulled outward or shut, the grill is moved outward or inward synchronously with the door in a linked manner. The grill moving mechanism thus has a significant positioning effect on the grill.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide the foregoing grill moving mechanism, wherein each of the at least one clamp connected to the active portion of the push rod is fixedly provided in a predetermined section of the push rod by a positioning pin.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide the foregoing grill moving mechanism, wherein each of the at least one clamp connected to the active portion of the push rod is a curved plate defining a relatively wide inner space and a relatively narrow outward opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a grill moving mechanism in operation according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of some components of the grill moving mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view of the components shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an assembled perspective view from another side of the components shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the grill moving mechanism according to the present invention when installed in an oven;

FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of the circled area A in FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5A, except that the grill is disconnected from the clamp;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing how the grill moving mechanism of the present invention works when a door is closed;

FIG. 8 is a side view showing how the grill moving mechanism of the present invention works when a door is closed; and

FIG. 9 is a side view showing how the grill moving mechanism of the present invention works when a door is opened.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 9, the present invention provides a grill moving mechanism for an oven. As shown in the drawings, an oven 5 for grilling various foods essentially comprises: an inner casing 1 provided at upper and lower ends thereof with pipe radiators 11, respectively; a plurality of guiding grooves 12 provided on each of the left and right sides of the inner casing 1, spaced apart from each other, and of predetermined heights; an outer casing 2 enclosing and spaced apart from the inner casing 1; a back panel 21; and a door 3 pivotally coupled to the front opening of the inner casing 1 and adapted to open in a predetermined direction. The arrangement of the aforesaid constituent elements is typical of a conventional oven and thus is not claimed by the present invention. The patent application (application Ser. No. 13/343,109) of which the present invention claims priority provides a grill moving mechanism for an oven and further discloses the following technical features:

The grill moving mechanism 4 is disposed at an external side of the inner casing 1. The grill moving mechanism 4 comprises a link 41, a controlling shaft 42, and a push rod 43. A groove 13 is provided at a rear portion of one side of the inner casing 1. The controlling shaft 42 is pivotally connected to a rear end of the link 41, penetrates the groove 13, and is fixed to a lower end of the push rod 43. A front end of the link 41 is penetrated by a pin 44 and coupled to a rear end of a curved bar 45, such that the link 41 and the curved bar 45 are pivotally connected. A front end of the curved bar 45 is pivotally coupled to a support 31 provided at a predetermined position on the door 3. A rest 14 is protrudingly disposed on the inner casing 1 and corresponds in position to a predetermined section of the path along which the curved bar 45 can be pushed inward. The aforesaid arrangement allows the grill moving mechanism 4 to be disposed on one side of the inner casing 1 (as shown in FIG. 1).

The improvement provided by the present invention consists in the following: The push rod 43, to which the controlling shaft 42 at the rear end of the link 41 is fixed, has an active portion connected with at least one resilient clamp 46 (see FIG. 5 in conjunction with FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4). Each clamp 46 is fixedly provided in a predetermined section of the push rod 43 by a positioning pin 461. Moreover, each clamp 46 is implemented by a curved plate which defines a relatively wide inner space and a relatively narrow outward opening.

Referring to FIG. 1, and FIG. 9, to operate the grill moving mechanism 4 disposed on one side of the inner casing 1 of the oven 5, a grill 6 is pushed into and along two of the guiding grooves 11 in the oven 5, and a rear end of the grill 6 is inserted into a certain clamp 46 that is connected to the active side of the push rod 43 at a predetermined height (as shown in FIG. 5A). Thus, the grill 6 disposed in the oven 5 is securely clamped by the clamp 46. A grill pan 7 can be placed on the grill 6, and then the food to be grilled is placed in the grill pan 7. Afterward, the user shuts the door 3 of the oven 5 by hand, causing the grill 6 to be pushed inward by means of the grill moving mechanism 4 (as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8), and while the curved bar 45 coupled to the front end of the link 41 is pushed inward toward the limit, the rest 14 protrudingly disposed at a predetermined position of the inner casing 1 provides proper guidance and support for the curved bar 45 being pushed inward. Afterward, the food in the grill pan 7 is grilled at a preset temperature by the pipe radiators provided at the upper and lower ends of the inner casing 1 of the oven 5. When the user subsequently pulls the door 3 of the oven 5 outward (as shown in FIG. 9), operation of the curved bar 45 and the link 41 enables the grill 6 to move outward synchronously with the door 3. As the grill 6 can be moved inward or outward synchronously with the door 3 in a linked manner when the door 3 is pulled outward or shut, the grill moving mechanism 4 has a significant positioning effect on the grill 6.

When it is desired to remove the grill 6 from inside the oven 5 for cleaning, the user only has to hold an outer end of the grill 6 and pull outward, and the inner end of the grill 6 will be released from the clamp 46 on the active side of the push rod 43 (as shown in FIG. 6). 

What is claimed is:
 1. A grill moving mechanism for an oven, disposed at an external side of an inner casing of the oven, wherein: a groove is provided at a rear portion of one side of the inner casing; a controlling shaft is pivotally connected to a rear end of a link, penetrates the groove, and is fixed to a lower end of a push rod; a front end of the link is penetrated by a pin and coupled to a rear end of a curved bar, such that the link and the curved bar are pivotally connected; and a front end of the curved bar is pivotally coupled to a support provided at a predetermined position on a door, the grill moving mechanism being characterized in that: the push rod, to which the controlling shaft at the rear end of the link is fixed, has an active portion connected with at least one resilient clamp, and a grill put into the oven can be securely clamped by a said clamp such that, when the door is pulled outward or shut, the grill is moved outward or inward synchronously with the door in a linked manner, the grill moving mechanism thus having a significant positioning effect on the grill.
 2. The grill moving mechanism for an oven of claim 1, wherein each said clamp connected to the active portion of the push rod is fixedly provided in a predetermined section of the push rod by a positioning pin.
 3. The grill moving mechanism for an oven of claim 1, wherein each said clamp connected to the active portion of the push rod is implemented by a curved plate defining a relatively wide inner space and a relatively narrow outward opening. 